Burn With Me
by UndineCalledSushi
Summary: Takes place before the Hobbit (movieverse) Filli and Killi are traveling and encounter a woman. Let's see where this goes. Some mentions of abuse, probably sexytimes later on. There will definitely be cursing later on. Rating will change.
1. Meeting

((A/N: so this just came to me today... it's gonna be a bit of a rush job, I may come back and revise it at some point. Who knows lol))

The ringing of steel through the rainy forest is a welcome sound to Fili after weeks of travel. It's been almost a month since he last put hammer to steel, longer since he has drawn a sword in battle. He knows without looking that his brother is just as twitchy as he is, bereft of the things that have been key in their lives. A battle cry, thin and reedy, reaches them as steel sings again. The brothers run toward it, blood singing with the promise of battle.

~/~/~/

The impact of her stolen sword on the tree jars her bones, but she doesn't let it stop her. The pain is miniscule to the ones in her heart and across her back. The next swing is wild and the impact makes her hand go numb, fingers she can't feel dropping the sword onto the turf. She drops to her knees beside it, her face stinging where Papa hit her, her back screaming in pain where he beat her. She cradles her tingling hand to her chest and tries to bite back a sob when she hears crashing in the brush behind her. She on her feet, sword in her hands, teeth bared. _Papa is coming, Papa's gonna kill you_ sings the evil voice in the back of her head, the one that says she deserves it when Papa takes off his belt. "_No_," she thinks with a ferocity that rarely makes it to her voice, _"Now I fight!"_

~/~/~/

The brothers charge into the clearing, weapons already drawn. They hope for a small orc pack, maybe some goblins, something to shake off the stupor and rust of travel. Instead they find a woman, wild-eyed and teeth bared, a rusted sword in her hands. The sight alone is enough to make them stop. She is scrawny, barely as tall as Kili. Her hair is plastered to her head by rain, so darkened by water it's hard to tell the color. A blackening bruise spread across her cheekbone, swelling her eye enough it looks like she's squinting. Her eyes widen in surprise at the two dwarfs, but narrow quickly as she charges them, that pathetic battle cry escaping her bloodied mouth.

~/~/~/

She attacks Kili first, he was closer to her, but he blocks her swing with ease. Her sword is an affront to their dwarvish sensibilities, the metal bent and rusted. It glances off Kili's sword and the wild woman tries again, lunging at the darker dwarf. Kili blocks this attack easily too. It's becoming glaringly obvious that the woman has no training. Fili catches his brother's eyes as he dodges another swing. Fili nods and circles around behind the woman while Kili keeps her attention on him. The sight of the woman's back gives him pause, stripes of what looks like blood marring the fabric of her shirt. He needs to lean back to avoid the woman's blade, which cuts a few whiskers as it comes within a hare's breath of his throat. His brother jumps the woman before she has a chance to swing again. Her sword flies out of her hands as she hits the ground, Kili on top of her.

~/~/~/

Her screams of pain and anger are muffled by the grass, the darker dwarf having firmly planted his ass on her back. Her mind gives way to panic and she tries to buck him off, barely moving him as her arms buckle beneath her. When she finally collapses to the grass she hears murmuring above her and the weight lifts. She shoots off the ground on all fours and all but brains herself on a branch as she climbs the tree she had been hacking at. She perches on a branch and peers down at them. The dwarves look up at her.

"I'm not going back," she tells them. She hates the way her voice sounds, hoarse and too low for a woman. Everyone tells her so.

The dwarves look at each other; she can see confusion in the set of their shoulders. "Back where?" the dark one, the one who sat on her, calls up. She can see her sword, lying forlornly in the grass behind him. The lighter dwarf sees her looking and walks over to it, picking it up the way one might pick up anonymous stained underwear.

"No! That's mine!"

~/~/~/

Fili sees the woman look at her sword, knows she's thinking of how to get it and escape. He picks it up, the feel of poorly worked metal grating his senses.

"No! That's mine!"

He decides he likes her voice; it's husky and makes him wonder what it would sound like without the note of panic in it. It makes him wonder what it would sound like saying his name in pleasure. He shakes his head to rid it of the thought. Very few women want a dwarf in their bed, even fewer want two. He and Kili had decided early on that there would only be one woman for them, brothers with the same heart. He looked at the blade in his hand more closely. The edge is chipped in several places, the grip is frayed and falling apart with age. He tests the balance, finding it sorely lacking. He can tell that the blade is ready to snap, he's surprised it hadn't broken when it first hit Kili's sword.

"Why do you want it? We could make you a better one." He calls up to the woman.

"He's mine!" She shouts back, "Leave him alone."

_Him?_ Fili looks at the blade again. She must've named the twisted blade at some point. "If you want it, you'll have to come down. Our necks are getting stiff looking up at you!" Kili yells to her. Fili glances at his brother, who shoots him a grin. He shakes his head, smiling to himself. Perched on a branch almost ten feet above their heads, the woman is calculating if she has a chance. Fili can see it in the way she hugs the tree trunk, in the way her head jerks and eyes dart. "We won't hurt you," his brother calls up, hands outstretched to show he's weaponless.

~/~/~/

The dark dwarf calls reassurances to her, but she barely hears them. She's focused on Nightmare, the sad old blade held carelessly by the light dwarf. She hugs the trunk tighter, feeling the bark bite into her skin, feeling tears well in her eyes. She's been out in the rain since before dawn this morning and now she's still the chill of it is beginning to creep into her bones. All she wants is Nightmare so she can run and find a safe dry place to hide, if any can be found. She doesn't trust these dwarves, experience has taught her nothing on two legs can be trusted, but she wants Nightmare back. She wants to feel the fraying grip in her palms so she doesn't feel so _weak_. So defenseless. She wants it more than she wants the dubious safety of her tree. She clambers down, keeping the trunk between her and the dwarves. When her bare feet hit the grass she sways, blood rushing through her head, making her feel drunk as black spots dance across her vision. She tries to remember the last time she ate. Yesterday maybe? She peers around the tree and tries to get her body to obey her for a little while longer. Her lips and tongue feel uncoordinated as she mumbles, "Give."

She'd meant to say more, but the words wouldn't come. The light dwarf starts forward as darkness overtakes her.

~/~/~/

Fili barely manages to catch the woman as she falls, and he has to drop the sword to do it. He lowers her to the grass, looking over his shoulder at Kili. His brother shrugs and looks up at the sky. "We've got to make camp anyway, it's getting dark." Fili nods and silently hefts the woman over his shoulder, surprised by how little she weighs. "You get to carry the sword. I don't want to touch it again," he grins at his brother. "Thanks for that. Can't we just leave it? Anyone with sense would've sold it for scrap metal before considering using it," Kili complains, picking it up. Fili waits until his brother is back at his side before saying, "Sure, you can tell the little warg-pup that you left her sword behind." His brother grimaces and Fili laughs as they walk away.

Forty minutes later the dead weight on his shoulder has worn him down and he declares a rest, setting the woman on the ground. The brothers hustle about making camp, building a makeshift lean-to out of branches and blankets. Kili looses the coin toss and heads back out into the rain to find their dinner, leaving Fili to build a fire and watch over the wild woman. She's still passed out, her head resting on a deep green sweater that Kili found when he'd picked up her sword. He covers her with an extra blanket out of kindness before heading out to collect wood that looks dryer than the rest. After furkling through brush for a few minutes he'd collected a nice armful of dry-ish brush and started a small fire. Pleased with himself, he leaned back on his heels, only to feel rusted steel against his throat.

~/~/~/

She woke warmer than she remembered being. She flexed her fingers and cracked her eyes, glancing furtively at her surroundings. Above her was a hasty roof, blankets and branches woven together in such a way that no rain got through. What little she could she out of her left eye confirmed a wall constructed the same way. Nightmare leaned against a tree that formed a corner of the shoddy lean-to by her feet. She lunged, grabbing him, sliding him next to her under the blanket that had warmed her. A branch cracked near by and she pulled the blanket back up, slitting her eyes to watch the light dwarf saunter back into the shelter humming an unfamiliar tune under his breath. She waited while he made a small fire then seized her chance. Nightmare was at his throat before he'd registered her movement.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The calm in his voice infuriated her. She focused on still her trembling hands, determined not to show her fear and weakness to the stranger. Her eyes flickered, looking for the other dwarf, but she didn't see him. "You'll be missing out on whatever Kili brings back," the dwarf continued, "He's a fair good shot, and he's better at me than hunting. I'd wager he'll bring back a nice plump rabbit or a partridge." Her mouth watered at the thought of food. Darkness danced at the corners of her vision and she moaned, dropping Nightmare as she fell back on the blanket.

"You all right?" The dwarf has turned, is looking at her. There is laughter in his eyes, but she gets the feeling that he finds almost everything funny. Concern draws his brows close together. He's handsome, even with the frown marring his features. If she were different, more bold, maybe a little bit drunk, she'd lean forward and kiss him. But she not and she shakes her head to clear it of such thoughts. He mistakes the movement as an answer to his question, and before she can react he's got his palm against her forehead. She pulls away as soon as it registers that he's _touching_ her. "You aren't feverish," he tells her. She knows that, because she's had fevers and they never made her this cold. The too-big shirt she's wearing is old and ragged, a hand-me-down from her brother like everything she owns. Even Nightmare was once her brother's sword, before he got really good with a blade and went away to Gondor. She pulls the blanket around her and shivers. "Sit closer to the fire," the dwarf says. She obeys, only because she's so cold and the fire is so warm. Her back aches, a scab or two has probably broken open. She'll try and take care of it later. As if he's reading her thoughts the dwarf says, "Earlier, it looked like you had blood on your back. Are you injured?"

She feels her eyes widen and shakes her head. "Ok." She can tell he doesn't believe her, but she's grateful he doesn't press the issue. Rain patters on the leaves outside and on the branches overhead and she closes her eyes and relaxes in the luxury of being almost warm and mostly dry. She can feel the dwarf's eyes on her. "I'm Fili, by the way."

She cracks an eye at him. "Mara." She limits her words so he won't hear her ugly, mannish voice. He favors her with a smile and she wonders what it would be like to kiss him. "My brother, Kili, will be back soon. Now, about this sword…" His voice trails off as he lays it across his lap. He still touches it like it pains him.

~/~/~/

Fili lays the ugly sword across his lap. The woman, Mara, watches the sword like she expects him to do something fiendish with it. Like break it, which he could. He can see a crack already running through it. "Mine." Again the husky voice makes him think of bedding her, and again he dismisses the idea. "So you've said. However, the blade's starting to crack and it looks like it's about to shatter." Mara looks like she's about to cry. "Kili and I can remake it for you at the next town we're in. Most forges like having dwarves about." Panic in her eyes, and he looses himself for a minute when he realizes her eyes are pale lavender. He's never seen such eyes. "So the next town is where you're running from. So we'll skip it and head to the next one." Relief makes her shoulders sag, but her eyes are sharper than any blade.

~/~/~/

She tries to force her voice higher, so she sounds like a woman when she says, "What do you want from me?" The result isn't pleasant, but she doesn't sound like a man. The dwarf just stares at her for a minute before dissolving into laughter. She glares at him. She lets her voice drop back. "What?" It takes Fili a minute to compose himself. "Why were you talking like that?" he asks her between chortles. She won't meet his eyes. "Didn't want you to think I was a man."

"_What_?"

She glares at him. "People always say I sound like a man. They always laugh!"

~/~/~/

"I like how your voice sounds." It's out of his mouth before he can stop it and Mara looks like he just slapped her in the face with the flat of her own sword. He shrugs, grateful to hear Kili's approaching steps. He looks out into the rain as Mara asks again "What do you want from me?"

She doesn't say it in that horrid high-pitched screech again, thankfully. He glances at her, a woman too short to be human or elf, to tall to be a hobbit, to slender to be a dwarf and wonders what she's running from. "We want nothing other than to give you a blade that won't shatter." Kili is the one who says it, tactlessly graceful as he enters into the conversation. Two rabbits dangle from his fist, already skinned and gutted. Fili spits them and sets them over the fire to cook. As he does he introduces Mara and Kili. Soon they're arguing about how to cook the rabbits, while Mara leans carefully against a tree and watches them.

"No, they're not done yet," Fili says, slapping at his brother's hands.

"You're only saying that because they're not charcoal!"

"No, I'm saying that because they're still raw."

"You think everything not burnt to a crisp is raw."

"No, I…" A quiet chuckle broke the argument. The two dwarves looked at the corner, where Mara was studiously not looking at them.

"Look! You're burning them!"

"Kili, if you touch those rabbits before they're done I swear I'll…"

Another soft chuckle. Mara looked suspiciously like she was fighting back a smile. The two stared at her until she broke, laughing quietly at their bickering. Fili's heart skipped a beat. The smile transformed her face into the sun, brilliant and beautiful. Looking at his brother, Kili knew Fili was taken. Maybe…

Mara was holding her sides now, her laughter infectious. Soon the brothers were laughing along with her, stopping only when the sizzle of dripping fat reached them. Kili turned the rabbits so they wouldn't burn.

"Still not done," Mara offered, a lopsided grin on her face. Her hair was drying now, a cloud of deep rich brown that shone red in the firelight. He watched as she reached up to pull it back, watch as she winced. "You really should let one of us look at your back. If there're any open wounds, it would be better to treat them before they get infected." The grin disappeared and Fili kicked himself, sure he'd made her retreat back inside herself again. Kili came to the rescue, handing out rabbit haunches. Mara's was gone before either of the brother's was half done with theirs, and the hungry way she looked at their portions reminded them of eating with Bombur. Kili handed her the rest of one rabbit and she retreated into her corner to eat like a starving animal. It wasn't until the rabbits were devoured and the carcasses tossed far into the woods that Mara spoke.

"Why are you being nice to me?"

The brothers looked at her.

"You've offered help several times, but you've asked for nothing. Why?"

The brothers looked at each other and shrugged.

"Seemed like the right thing to do," Kili said, watching her with dark eyes.

"No one's ever done you a favor before?" Fili asked.

Something flashed in those beautiful lavender eyes. "This is a favor for me," Mara snapped, dropping the blanket and showing them the bloodied back of her shirt. She peeled the hem of it up, stopping halfway up her back when it hurt too much to lift her arms, but the brothers saw enough to make them hiss in sympathy.

The skin of her back was torn and bruised, and the skin that was clear of injury was mostly scarred. Blood oozed from several places where the scabs had cracked open.

~/~/~/

Mara tensed as she heard the dwarves suck in their breath. She knew her back wasn't pretty, nothing that mangled and scarred could ever be pretty. She still didn't know why she trusted them enough to have them at her back, why she was speaking to them, why she was still here. But she did, and now she was showing them one of her closely kept secrets. She heard movement behind her, felt herself being gently pushed down onto a blanket. She would have struggled if it had been anyone else, but she trusted these two dwarf brothers so much it confused her. Her shirt was pulled up farther, until she had to lift up and allow it completely off. The strip of cloth she uses to bind her breasts saved some of her skin from the belt, but the rest…

She hears them murmuring above her, but she doesn't want to know what they're saying. She pushes her face into her sweater and lets it soak up the tears she can't stop from leaking out. She tries to cover her head with her arms, to hide further and block out their words, but it hurts too much and more tears leak out. Coolness touches her back, soothing the fire of her wounds. She groans in relief, her shoulders releasing tension she hadn't known was there.

~/~/~/

Fili tried not to let his rage show, but his fingers still shook slightly as he applied the salve. He knew without looking that his brother's eyes had darkened with the same fury he felt. They are silent as they slowly coat Mara's back with the healing ointment Gandalf had given them some years ago. The silence is broken only by the rain, the crackling of the fire, and Mara's sighs. The sighs make it hard for him to concentrate, his brain supplying other situations in which she could be making those sighs. His fingers stroke her broken skin and he sees her pupils dilate as she looks up at him… No.

Fili looks over at his brother, dark head bent and brow furrowed in more concentration than is necessary to apply ointment, and Fili knows Kili's having the same problem. When his brother looks up at him Fili mouths _ours_ and Kili nods.

~/~/~/

When Mara wakes it is not quite dawn and she is warm and dry and she feels safer than she has ever felt before in her life. No nightmares had plagued her sleep like they usually did. She'd fallen asleep while the brothers were tending her back, which barely hurts anymore. She opens her eyes to see the sleeping face of Kili. Startled, Mara squeaks and scoots back, straight into Filli. The brothers had curled around her in their sleep, sharing their warmth throughout the night. Mara wondered at the sense of peace and safety she felt around the brothers, whom she hadn't even known for a full day. A warm bubbly sensation sang through her blood. She felt _happy_. She smiled slightly to herself, and curled back up between the dwarves. She lets her eyes slid shut and sleep takes her again.

((A/N: Well, there's the first chapter. I'm not really sure where the hell this is going, but hey! Let's see where this ride goes. The next chapter should be up tomorrow or the day after. Let me know what you think of it so far!))


	2. Memory

((A/N: Sorry it's so short, life got in the way and then I realized the chapter I was writing would make a hell of a lot more sense later on in the story... Anyway, enjoy and give me all the feedback!))

It takes almost a week to reach the next town, mainly because she's still weak and the brothers seem intent on fulfilling their promise to reforge Nightmare. She follows them for the sense of safety she craves, and for curiosity as to why she trusts them so implicitly. When she accidentally stumbles over a branch, and one of them catches her, her skin doesn't crawl and her stomach doesn't churn at the touch. It takes until they first step into another town that the brothers realize exactly how deep her trust is.

Mara has been here before, with Papa. She remembers the press of people, flinching away from anyone who gets too near like she does now. Like she doesn't do around the men she travels with today. She grips Nightmare so had that his rusted blade cuts into her fingers and a dribble of blood slides down his blade. Mara doesn't notice the pain until later, when they get to the room they rented at the local pub and she's out of sight. Then she flexes her fingers with a frown, noting the rusted red-brown of dried blood crusting them.

Fili and Kili have disappeared downstairs, taking Nightmare with them. They've gone to find the forge, look it over and see how long it'll take to melt Nightmare's steel down and remake the blade. Kili had given her a knife when they took Nightmare, it's simplistic but beautiful. It's sharper than Nightmare has ever been, she tested the edge the moment Kili had given it to her. She inspects the knife the way she's inspecting her feelings, poking and prodding the strange lightness within her. The room feels too big without the brothers light-hearted voices filling the space. Every creak and footstep make her jump, until she gives up and crawls under the bed like a child hiding from a monster. She cradles the knife like that same child would hug a doll or other toy, and lets her eyes fall closed. Her dream that night isn't a nightmare, or really a dream, but a memory that boils to the surface of her mind.

_"It'll be alright," he whispers, leaning in to kiss her. She tells herself that she loves him, even as the touch of his palm on her cheek feel like sandpaper. He has to lean down to kiss her, the Halfling heritage in her blood bred true. It feels like kissing a fish's side when his lips meet hers, his sandpaper hands groping at her breasts, down her back to grab her ass and pull her flush against him. When she stiffens, he mistakes it for chastity. Her pulls away, smiles down at her. "I'll speak to your father tomorrow, I'm sure he'll give his blessing."_

_Mara doesn't let the doubt show in her smile. "Until tomorrow then." His lips brush hers once more, and then he's gone. He never talks to her again after that night. When she reaches for him to ask why, he will spit at her. His eyes will reflect the same fear and hatred as everyone else Papa has told about her little secret. It won't hurt as much as she will expect, even as he curses her name. She'd known in the back of her mind this would happen. When Papa finds her bundling her belongings together he backhands her across the face, and while she lies on the floor he cracks the leather belt across her back. She doesn't make a sound._

She wakes from the memory when the door opens. She lies very still, tears dripping onto the dusty wood she's lying on. The bed above her creaks, boots dropping to the floor. Kili complains about the smell of his brother's feet and she bites her cheek to keep from laughing. The pain from her dream is burning away like mist in the sun. The brothers discard armor and weaponry in untidy piles on either side of the bed, continuing a conversation they'd started before entering the room.

~/~/~/

"D'you think that story was true?" Fili turns to look at his brother.

"Which one? Most of the drunks downstairs were telling stories."

"The one about the warg." He can hear nervousness in his brother's voice and he doesn't blame him. The smell of dwarven blood is enough to send an entire pack into a frenzy. The attack they suffered as children is proof of that. He scoffs at the idea anyway.

"I doubt it. Maybe one got lost and just wandered through, that'd be believeable. But the fact that a child stared it down and scared it off? Bullshit."

Kili laughs, "Thorin probably could've. You remember that time we lost his dagger?" Fili shudders at the memory. It hadn't even been their uncle's favorite dagger, but the fact it had been lost made the older dwarf… irritable. "I thought he was going to skin us where we stood." The brothers laugh at the memory. Thorin's fearsome scowl was enough to scare away an entire warg pack.

"Where do you think Mara's gone off to?" The question comes out of nowhere, until Fili realizes he's been wondering the same thing.

"She can't have gone to far, the only reason she's still with us is because of that sword. She wouldn't have left without it."

"I hope she stays, even after with reforge it." Fili looks at his brother, who shrugs.

"I like her. She's amusing and fun when she loosens up. And she almost skewered me when we were fighting the other day. If she can learn to control her arm, she'd be someone I wouldn't want to tangle with." He glances sideways at his brother. "She cooks better than you too."

Fili gasped in mock offense. "See if I ever cook for you again. You can just eat your meals raw from now on."

Kili laughs and blows out the light.


	3. Blade Reforged

The next morning they wake to Mara brushing dust off her clothes with Kili's knife in her teeth. They both need a minute to regain control of themselves. The sun shining through the window makes the threadbare shirt she's wearing almost see-through, showing them a faint outline of the body underneath it. That, combined with their admitted weakness for armed women, make them both need a minute to regain thoughts other than _JUMP HER NOW_! When blood finally stops rushing southward they clamber out of the man-sized bed, eager to do the work their hands were meant for.

~/~/~/

Mara watches the brothers work, their movement synchronized. Each hammer fall is precise, each knowing exactly where the other will strike. There's something hypnotic about it, and the afternoon is deepening to twilight by the time she realizes that the blacksmith has been staring at her for almost an hour. When her eyes meet his she sees something in them, but he looks away before she can recognize it. As they leave for the day she can feel the smith's eyes burning into her back and for the rest of the night she can't settle down. She sits in the window, watching the streets as the dwarves head downstairs to drink. She looks away to smile at them when they get back, staggering slightly, and then her eyes are focused on the street again. It's been almost ten years since she was here, but what she had done wasn't easily forgotten. Kili asks her if she would like to sleep in the bed tonight, and although her skin tingles at the thought of her limbs twining with theirs, she just smiles and shakes her head.

Moonlight silvers the streets and rooftops, everything simple in pale moonlight and black moonshadows. The brothers toss and turn for a long time, and more than once she can feel their eyes on her. Mara shifts her seat so she can still look out the window while she faces them, one foot bracing her on the sill while the other taps out a rhythm.

~/~/~/

It feels like hours since he and Fili lay down to sleep, tossing and turning as Mara stares at the street like she expects a barrow wight to suddenly appear. His brother is having just as hard a time as he, sleep not coming easy to either of them regardless of the good drink they'd had. Cloth rustles as Mara moves in the window, when he glances at her he can see her eyes watching him in return, reflecting moonlight at him. Her foot gently taps the floor as she starts to sing a song he's never heard before.

_Nature, nurture heaven and home_

_Sum of all, and by them, driven_

_To conquer every mountain shown_

_But I've never crossed the river_

_Braved the forests, braved the stone_

_Braved the icy winds and fire_

_Braved and beat them on my own_

_Yet I'm helpless by the river_

It's a slow song, a sad song, but she sings it with hope in her voice. It makes his breath catch in his throat. Fili lies still next to him, as enraptured with Mara's song as he is.

She sings it beautifully, her voice changing to match each verse. The anguish and frustration in her voice makes him want to hold her, to tell her he's there, his brother is there, but his body won't move, limbs sinking into heaviness as his eyes droop with weariness.

~/~/~/

Mara can hear the change in Fili and Kili's breathing, and she knows that they've fallen asleep, but she finishes the song anyway. The tune is as much for her comfort as it is for theirs.

_And together we'll cross the river..._

Mara holds the last note, listening to it as it fades into silence. She tries to remember where she first heard the song and fails. It's always been in her mind, humming through her thoughts when she gets nervous. She presses her forehead against the window and starts another song.

_Sing me a song my true love tomorrow..._

Outside, it begins to rain.

~/~/~/

Fili wakes to a grey dawn and Mara's voice. He wonders if she had been singing all night. Kili asks her on their way to the smithy as they dodge puddles and people going about their business as fast as they can.

"I couldn't sleep. Singing keeps me company." Fili shrugs off the fact that every night they were on the road she hadn't had a problem with sleep, nestled between the two of them. Some people can't stand being under a roof, and given what they knew about Mara's history, it was understandable.

When they finally make it to the blacksmith's, they find the grizzled old man isn't there. Fili finds it strange, but he's a dwarf. He's meant to work the forge regardless of weather or health. The cooled sword sings to him, and his hands itch for a hammer. He lets all the troubling thoughts go and focuses on remakeing the sword in front of him.

~/~/~/

Mara breathes a sigh of relief when she realizes the blacksmith isn't there, the tension winding around her spine and shoulders breaking with an almost audible snap. She settles into a corner to watch her friends at their work. The thought makes her rear back and blink in shock. _Friends?_ She doesn't have friends, not any more. Her last friend had spit on her the day after kissing her. She watches the two brothers, thinking on the inexplicable sense of peace and safety she feels around them. Thinking that maybe, just maybe, this time will be different. She watches the brothers work, a small smile on her lips, until her stomach grumbles. She leaves quietly, comes back even more so, holding a small sack. The dwarves don't notice her as she quickly slices the bread she'd bought from the inn with the knife Kili lent her two nights ago, they are so intent on their work they don't notice her toasting the bread and cheese on the heat of the fire. The only time they notice is when she places her hand on Fili's bare back (the brothers had stripped from the waist up soon after getting there, complaining about working in wet clothes. Mara hadn't complained.)

They sit together on the floor of the blacksmith's and eat toasted bread with melted cheese and meat, and when Mara produces two waterskins filled with ale the brothers make up silly songs about kind, beautiful Mara. She laughs along with them and for the first time in too long, she doesn't feel alone. Nightmare lies alone on the anvil, proud and deadly thanks to these two dwarves who can work miracles. Kili notices when her attention strays to the sword and asks if she would like any designs etched into the blade when they're finished. She can feel her face color, her eyes to heavy to look up and meet theirs.

"A warg." She mutters it quietly, like a child admitting a wrong it committed. She knows that the brothers have fought wargs, have been wounded by them. Everyone knows that wargs will take a sickly old dwarf over a hundred plump sheep any day. She knows that that twisting scar around Kili's shoulder comes from a warg's teeth, just like she knows the claw marks on Fili's back come from warg claws. She's seen the death wargs bring, she's seen it in this very town. There are faint white circles where a warg once bit the back of her neck, gently as if it were pulling a pup from danger, so gently and yet the fangs had still broken the skin.

"Why'd you want something like that?" Kili asks, voice thick with some emotion she doesn't know, a hand going up to unconsciously rub at the old, warped scars on his shoulder. Mara scrambles desperately for an answer, but her mind goes blank. She just shrugs instead. She still can't meet their eyes, this friendship is to new for her to risk telling them why. Fili notices the set in her shoulders and tugs his brother's hair. "Back to work Kee, otherwise this won't be finished before tomorrow."

Mara looks up, startled, when a hand lands on her shoulder.

"We'll etch your warg," Fili tells her, laughter in his eyes.

It's Fili, as he turns to his work, who starts singing. Kili remains silent for a long time before joining in.

_Far over the misty mountains cold_

_To dungeons deep and caverns old_

_We must away ere break of day_

_To seek the pale enchanted gold._

The last note trails away and they hold Nightmare up for her inspection. Her breath catches in her throat. His blade shines like a new star in the firelight, the edge honed finer than he has ever known. They had rewrapped the grip at some point, it's still frayed cotton, but it's clean and new. An intricate warg silently snarls at her from below the crossguard. She stands, unable to express her gratitude with words, and kisses the brothers on the lips, first one then the other, before tracing her fingers along Nightmare's edge. She can feel the skin on the pads of her fingers split, like they'd been sliced on a piece of paper. "Nightmare, you beauty," she whispers, oblivious to the fire in the dwarves eyes as they look at her.

((A/N: The first song is Humbling River by Puscifer, and the second is the poem from the Hobbit book. Hope you've enjoyed this latest installment and are looking forward to the next one! Reviews are love!))


	4. Warg Spawn

((A/N: This chapter's song is called Stairs in Her Hair. It's a poem by Amal El-Mohtar, and it's also been made into a song on youtube. I highly recommend it. You can listen to it here: youtube dot com/watch?v=ceeE6_I4ZIU or read it in the _Welcome to Bordertown_ anthology.))

Mara hurries along the streets, a bag of food and other provisions slung across her back, next to Nightmare. Fili promised that they'll make a better way to hold the sword on her back, but for now Nightmare hangs from a strip of cloth looped over her shoulders, like he always has. She carries a handful of coins in her left hand. They're leaving soon, as soon as she finds her friends, they'll be out and away from this town. Mara scratches her shoulder, reveling in the softness of the borrowed shirt. She'd caught her own on a nail at some point yesterday and the worn fabric had given way without a struggle, leaving a long tear that showed her ribcage, a little more padded than it had been before meeting the pair. Unfortunately, it had torn in such a way that if she moved a certain way, it also showed anyone looking (which had thankfully been just the dwarves) a hint of the soft swell of her small breasts. Kili had lent her one of his spares until she could sew the revealing hole shut. She'd laughed at their expressions when they'd realized, their faces turning tomato-red, eyes burning in a way that made her skin burn in return.

The streets are almost as deserted as they were yesterday, people not willing to leave their warm beds until the sun has risen high and burned away most of the damp chill in the air. She hurries on, excitement bubbling in her blood, ready to leave this town and let her guard relax. Ready for the sense of foreboding she's had since yesterday to release it's grip on her innards.

A hand grabs her shoulder, yanks her around hard. It happens too fast for her to catch herself and she falls to the dirt, still muddy from yesterday's rain. Papa stands over her like an avenging god, his eyes terrible as he pulls her up by the crown of her head, his fingers tangled in hair the rusted color of old blood. She hadn't noticed him before, to preoccupied with the happiness that's filling all the empty spaces inside her.

"I've got you, you little whore," Papa hisses, breath rank with old ale. "As if you didn't shame me enough with your unnaturalness, now I find you whoring for dwarves!" He shakes her and it feels like her scalp has caught fire. She cries out and reaches up to grab at his hand, the coins she had been holding scattering across the ground. Papa sees them, eyes going hungry with greed.

"And you've been thieving again."

He drops her to the ground, choosing the coins over her. Nightmare's strap digs painfully into her chest.

_There is a girl with a coin in her fist_

_A coin made of breath and hunger and cold._

Her mind whispers the strains of a song as Papa pats her cheek, still yellowed with the bruise he put there. "Such a good girl, taking care of her Papa." The shift in his mood would've given her whiplash if she hadn't known it so well. The deadened hope in her heart gleams like a coin in the sun.

_There is a girl with a coin in her fist_

_Who buys whatever she's sold._

The cong in her mind is mournful now, like it knows she's giving up.

"Come along girl, it's time to get home." She stands, seeing the gleam in Papa's eyes as he takes in her appearance for the first time. "I see your whoring paid off. You've gotten new clothes." He pats her yellowed cheek again. "Good girl, one less thing I have to provide for your useless hide now." Mara had forgotten she was wearing Kili's shirt, her own still torn and waiting for her in the room she shared with the brothers. She fought not to cry. Would they think she had just used them, running off without a backwards glance now they had remade Nightmare?

_A girl with a voice and a girl with a name_

_A girl with strong hands and eyes like the rain_

_A girl too young and too easy to bruise_

_A girl with nothing to loose, oh_

_A girl with nothing to loose._

The song mocks her now, so loud she almost misses Papa's next words.

"And they fixed that rusted piece of shit, eh? I should be able to get a pretty price for that, not as much as if you had gotten them to make you one out of dwarven steel, but any dwarf-blade goes for a high price."

Papa notices when she stops, rage darkening his bloodshot eyes as he notices her rain-colored eyes flash with defiance. She sees Fili and Kili in her mind, Kili's scent on the shirt she wears, Nightmare strong and proud thanks to their efforts. She has something to loose now. She has happiness and friendship and that odd tightening in her chest when she thinks of the brothers. She is living now, rejoicing in each breath she takes, instead of simply existing. She can't go back to that now, can't go back to bending under Papa's wrath. She opens her mouth, but Papa backhands the words before they have a chance to be voiced.

_Here is a girl with a stone on her tongue_

_Plucked from a wave on the shore._

_Here is a girl with a stone on her tongue_

_That keeps her from asking for more._

Mara spits blood into a puddle, watching it swirl in the murky water. She glares at Papa, all the rage and pain and humiliation that she has ever suffered through under his heel shining through her eyes. The song spins wild, singing battle through her blood.

_I am a girl with a coin in her fist_

_But I have learned to be bold._

_I am a girl who will never be missed_

_If she's borrowed or broken or sold._

She stands slowly, her head spinning with pain and anger, she looks up at Papa's face.

"You will not sell this sword, Papa. It is mine. I have paid for it with every drop of blood and sweat, every tear I shed, while living under your roof. It became mine for every night it was my dearest friend when you left me broken on the floor. I may have your boot prints on my back, but now I have something to loose!"

Papa's brown eyes, so unlike her own, darken with further rage and disbelief. He swings his foot back, preparing to kick her back down into the mud. Mara catches it when it swings forward, a sharp tug and the man she feared for so long is on his back in the mud, gasping painfully as he tries to recover the wind that was knocked out of his lungs.

"Now you will look up at me with fear, like I looked up at you so many times, begging for mercy," she says, Nightmare singing as she swings him free of his cloth binding. The warg on his blade snarls silent defiance. The last verse of the song swells in her mind, singing her on.

_I am a girl with a voice and a name_

_A girl with strong hands and eyes like the rain._

_A girl who can fight and a girl who can choose_

_A girl with so much to loose, oh_

_A girl with so much to loose._

Nightmare cuts through the air and splatters mud on the face of the quivering man at her feet. He screams and his eyes roll back as the smell of urine fouls the air. Nightmare rests against his cheekbone, gently, almost like a lover's touch. The edge of the blade is so sharp that the skin parts, even at such a light touch.

When Mara turns, she realizes that a crowd has gathered, people pouring out of doorways to watch with the familiar mix of disgust, fear, and hate in their eyes. The man at her feet is well-liked, even if his daughter is warg-spawn. The crowd murmurs in dissent, faces darkening as they eye her. Mara lifts her chin and stares them down, stares down her death, as she stands alone.

And then, suddenly, she isn't alone. Fili and Kili have materialized, seemingly out of nowhere, standing with her against the angry crowd.

"Why do you protect the warg-spawn?" a voice howls from the crowd. "She'll set her wargs on you without a second thought, bite you in the back just like the wargs she controls!"

The words sting against her skin like hail. She can sense the dwarves falter, can almost hear them thinking about the warg they'd etched into her sword yesterday evening.

"I didn't control it! I asked it to leave, to stop terrorizing you! The deaths are on _your_ heads!" Mara spits the words out, they leave a foul taste in her mouth. She knows that she could tell that the sky is blue and they wouldn't believe her. Hopelessness wells from somewhere dark inside her and the evil voice in her mind cackles _You knew it wouldn't last, but you fell for them anyway, a stray pup begging for a handout, and now your friends will kill you._ Bitterness rises in her throat, her eyes sting, but she will not show weakness. Not to anyone.

~/~/~/

Fili freezes when he hears Mara yell her defense back at the crowd. It wasn't what he expected. It's not _I didn't control the beast, I was just as afraid as any of you!_ Instead she yells that she asked the beast to leave. He thinks back to the drunken tale he and Kili had heard their first night in this town.

_The man has drunkard written all over him, from the broken veins in his face to his bloodshot eyes and bulbous nose, but he's friendly enough. He even buys them two tankards of mead while they listen to him yammer. He's surprisingly understandable, even though he wobbles on his chair like it's a ship in stormy seas._

_"There was a warg here, young masters. Must've been… oh, a good ten years ago now. People couldn't leave their houses for fear of it, walking the streets like it owned them. And in broad daylight too! How d'ya like that? Anyway, it was a great beast, in it's prime and plump with our townsfolk. Then this pair walks in, traveled from some town down the road a ways, hadn't heard of the Dall Beast. Stopped at this very inn, they did. Father and daughter. Father was respectable enough, he still comes 'round sometimes. He's a likeable sort, buys me a tankard whenever I'm in!" The man lets loose a guffaw loud enough to make the brothers wince, before he drains the tankard in front of him and bellows for another._

_"The daughter though, she was a right little beast. She was a tiny little thing, must've had some Halfling in there somewhere, and she were only around ten years or so, but unnerving, starin' straight at you with them pale ghost-eyes, straight faced. I thought she was gonna spit a curse at me, make me fall down dead where I sat. Then the warg howled, and the whole place goes dead silent in time to hear the girl howl back at it. Never want to see something like that again." The man shudders. "She gets up and walks to the door, all hunched over like it hurts her to stand upright. She goes out into the street, bold as brass, whole town's got it's eyes on 'er. She walks straight up to that warg and says, 'Please leave, you're scaring folk. It's not nice.' Not nice. Like she were talking to some little shite she played with! Well, someone throws a chamberpot or something at them, and I don't blame 'em by the way. Cursed unnatural thing to see, girl and warg in the street like old friends. But it strikes the warg's back, and the thing doesn't even blink. It picks up that girl in its maw like she's it's long-lost pup or something, gentle as you please, and sets her down out of the way. Then it charges into the house where the thrower was and killed everyone inside. Walls dripping with blood, they were. Not enough left to fit in one coffin, let alone the four for each person in that house. Anyway, the beast's never seen again and that girl neither. Good thing too, that girl was no good. Would've brought down wargs wherever she went."_

He'd dismissed the tale as just a drunk's talk, but obviously he'd been wrong to do so. He looked at Mara, took in the fear and anger and heartbreak on her face, and knew she had been the child to stand against a warg for the sake of a village that wanted nothing less than her blood today. A stone flies from the crowd, and Mara's head snaps to the side, a quiet cry breaking from her lips. The sight of her blood is like the call to battle and the mob surges forward, powered by fear and hate, screaming for more. Mara turns and takes off, the sword shining on her back like a small sun.

~/~/~/

Mara turns and runs as she blinks blood out of her eye, fear lending her speed. She doesn't want to die at the hands of a bloodthirsty mob, but she wants the dwarves she called her friends (for almost a day and a half) to turn on her even less. She runs and runs and runs, putting distance between herself and all the hate that burns in the eyes of creatures that walk on two legs. She runs until she collapses on a thick carpet of leaves, lungs burning for air. Mara looks up and sees the sky through tall trees; the patches that show through the boughs are turning the swirling, vivid colors of sunset. Happiness seems a long time ago, sitting with two dwarves as they laugh and sang silly songs about her kindness. Her eyes burn, and she presses the heels of her palms into them, silent sobs shaking her body. She lies there for what seems like forever, until darkness reigns over the forest again. Pinpricks of light appear in the velvet night sky, and the green-yellow spots of lightning bugs dance drunkenly among the tree trunks. Brush crackles in the distance, but she doesn't move, secure that no one will find her in this darkness.

Her fingers find the scars on her neck, where warg fangs had held her and moved her to safety. She wonders if she should've accepted the warg's offer, gone to join its pack. Would she have been loved then? If she had, would she think she was an ugly furless, two-legged warg? The long ago beast had told her she would be accepted, that she could learn their songs and sing with them. It had told her that no two legger would accept her now. She should've known it was telling the truth, should've gone with it.

The two faces float through her mind, Fili and Kili, and it feels like she's just ripped open a fresh wound on her heart. Would she have met them if she had gone with the warg? A twig snaps nearby and she starts, eyes straining to make out the threat. Two shapes, only distinguishable by the fact that they are slightly darker than their surroundings, move toward her. Before she has a chance to react, they've flopped down beside her. The smell of leather and sweat and woodsmoke and dwarf wash over her, stealing away all pain and sadness.

Fili, on her left says, "Damn, you run faster than a warg."

Kili, on her right says, "You sure as shit don't have fangs like one though. I like that in a girl."

She can hear smiles and laughter in their voices. They're joking about it? Her disbelief chokes her.

Kili's arm around her, pulling her close to him, Fili curling around behind her.

"We don't care what you are," Fili says, "You're just Mara to us."

"Although, next time, run a bit slower so we can keep up."

Kili turns the sob in her throat to a watery chuckle.

"Okay," she whispers, her tears soaking into Kili's shirt. Fili's lips brush the scars on the back of her neck, Kili's brush her forehead. She falls asleep in the arms of to dwarves who are beginning to love her, just as she is beginning to love them in return.


	5. Something to Fight For

((A/N: Just a little something to tide you over until I beat the rest of this story into submission. Thank you Painton for pointing out that error, I tend to write things out of order so originally this was written before Nightmare was reforged. Reviews are love!))

The few months are the happiest Mara has ever known. She trusts the dwarven brothers, so different it amazes her that they can bear to breathe the same air, but the love they have for each other is almost tangible. With them, she is safe. Her body already knows it, even if her mind is having trouble with the idea that anyone can be trusted. She's known she can trust them since they tended her wounds, touched her back, without her skin crawling at their touch.

As they wander the lands of Middle Earth she is truly happy, but no amount of happiness dulls the fear of seeing their hatred when they see her actually use her unnatural talent. Hearing about such a skill is one thing; but actually seeing the girl speak to creatures that you have been taught to fear, start acting like one of the beasts, is something completely different. She does well at first, brushing away stray warg-thoughts like she might brush away cobwebs. She can feel a rider-less pack running nearby, traveling with no real direction or purpose, but not close enough to see or hear. She thinks she's doing fairly well; she's still standing up right and speaking with words and not growls.

Then she slips up.

~/~/~/

Mara can feel it in the way her thoughts shift, becoming more feral, thought formed with images rather than words. She dismisses it; it's not the first time it's happened. Then words become hard to form, the thoughts behind them disappearing almost as soon as she opens her mouth. She talks less so Fili and Kili won't notice, but they do anyway. She can see it in their eyes, but they don't press her on the subject and that alone is enough to make her heart beat with a foreign emotion. She knows she's getting worse when Kili hands her a portion of their dinner (rabbit again) and she leans forward to lick his hand instead of saying 'thank you'. She sits back quickly, confusion in her eyes, the taste of salt and wood smoke and iron on her tongue. It's heady, and she wants more, but she's already running into the darkness of the forest.

She can hear them behind her; no one could ever accuse dwarves of stealth. She hides in a thicket, twiggy branches clawing at her face as they run past her, calling her name. Tears trail quietly down her face as her heart thuds painfully in her chest, heavy enough that it feels like it's crushing her lungs. She digs the heel of her hand into the skin above it, hoping to ease the suffocating tightness there. She can still hear them in the darkening woods, searching for her.

Then the howls start up, wild howls that sing in her blood. Warg howls, singing for dwarven flesh. She is running before her brain even registers that she has moved.

~/~/~/

Kili pauses, panting for breath. Fili is beside him, looking as lost as Kili feels. His hand still tingles from the touch of her tongue. Kili starts to say something, but the words are cut off by howls. They know the sound, every dwarf does, and they know how bleak their chances are. The wargs howl again, the sound coming from all sides. The dwarves draw their blades, steel singing in the night, and stand with their back to each other. The wargs draw closer; close enough the brothers can see them. Kili breathes a sigh of relief, as their odds improve slightly, no orc riders.

A warg lunges at him and he guts it as it sails past, dead before it hits the ground. The others grow more cautious after that, circling their prey. Kili hates this part, tension coiling through his muscles as he waits for the next attack. He has never been good at waiting, it drive him slowly insane.

"You know, I think I left a rabbit over the fire," Fili says, his voice light, "It should be done cooking by the time we're done here."

Kili laughs. "I think you mean it'll be burnt by the time we're done here." He's close enough to feel his brother's shrug. The wargs snarl and charge, at least twenty to their two. Kili has a moment to be glad that Mara won't watch them die, won't die with them, and then the wargs are on him. He kills two before one slips past his guard and sinks it's teeth into his leg. He screams his pain and fury into the night as he beheads the creature, his leather armor does little against warg teeth and it feels like his leg is on fire. Another warg appears and his sword breaks it's skull, brain matter parting beneath it. Fili is being pushed against him, but he can't risk a look back. A warg leaps at him, mouth gaping, and he uses the creatures momentum against it, turning so the creature gets nothing but a mouthful of steel. Fili yells in pain and a warg squeals, and the weight is gone from his back.

Another warg takes advantage of his distraction and sinks it's teeth into his arm. He can feel teeth scraping against bone and his arm goes cold. He swings his sword, aiming for the warg, but another gets in the way and falls, taking his blade with it. He can't reach his knife and the glint in the warg's eyes says it's going to start shaking him like a terrier with a rat in it's teeth, so he does the only thing he can think of. Kili jams his thumb into the beast's hellish eye, takes savage pride in how fast it lets him go screeching and shaking it's head. There are only a few wargs left now, shaggy bodies surrounding the brothers, but Kili doesn't know if they can make it through the next attack. His left arm is mangled and useless, his leg can barely hold weight. He looks back at his brother and sees he's not in much better shape. A warg cocks its head, looking like it's considering it's chances, when a snarl breaks the stillness. A pale body lands in front of him, skidding a little on the gore, and he has to blink blood from his eyes to make sure he's not hallucinating.

Mara stands between him and the wargs.

~/~/~/

Mara can smell blood, think and cloying, and rage fills her, drives her faster. It feels like fire burns in her blood as she hears familiar voices shouting in pain and wargs squealing. She sees Fili slice through a warg's neck in a spray of blood, sees Kili shove his thumb through another's eye. She feels no pity for the wargs as they back away, some injured, to consider the prey that has fought so fiercely against them. They have attacked the only two people who have ever shown her true kindness and for that they should suffer. She snarls her rage, a completely animal sound that doesn't belong on the lips of a human, and almost trips over a carcass. She uses the momentum to throw herself between the dwarves and where the wargs are regrouping. Mara has never been so angry in her life, savagery pumping through her veins, and she skids on gore. She falls to one knee in front of Kili, but pops up quickly, drawing rage around her like a cloak. She snarls again, the same sound that will terrify her when she thinks about it later. She watches the wargs, sensing confusion and curiosity. She doesn't look at Fili or Kili, who stand behind her. She tells herself that she has to watch the wargs, make sure none of them attack while she's distracted, but she lies to herself sometimes. The truth is she doesn't want to see revulsion in their eyes when they look at her, when they realize that the people weren't lying when they said she was part warg. That they were right to be afraid.

The wargs are watching her now, curious about this human who sounds like they do. A hand tentatively touches her shoulder, but she shrugs it off and strides toward the pack with a confidence she doesn't feel. The pack leader is a big brute, scarred from many bloody battles and angry. He shows her his teeth, flattens his ears, and growls low in his throat as she approaches. She returns the growl and peels her lips away from her teeth. Mara knows they look pitiful compared to his fangs, can feel his amusement that a pup would challenge him. She allows his easy dismissal of her and his amusement to fuel her rage. The warg takes a step forward, testing her.

"Mine," she snarls. The great wolf is still bemused, but growing irritated.

_"Ours._" His voice in her head is like being trapped inside a huge bell. It makes her teeth ache.

"The dwarves are mine. _My_ pack." The great warg scoffs. '_Join this one. Eat dwarf flesh. We are STRONG!"_ Blood drips from her nose, her head aches with the pressure of his voice inside her head. The wildness rises in her and she snarls again, knowing that he won't back away from this. He means to kill tonight, and he has already found his prey.. "Mine," she snarls, her voice weaker than before. This voice is more like her own, more like how she feels as she stands against the warg's force. Unsure, unsteady. Weak. She's the girl in the attic hiding from Papa again, something she has forgotten to be since she has been with Fili and Kili. She backs away, wary eyes watching the scarred wolf. She wants to run, to hide where no one will ever find her. She's too far gone to remember how to use the sword strapped to her back, but she can feel its weight on her back, demanding that she not roll over this time. Then her back hits the armored chest of one of the brothers, feels the other put a hand on her shoulder. They don't back away, don't leave her to fight and die like so many would have done. She remembers happiness and laughter, and knows she has something to fight for. She is laughably small against the great warg, but she is fast. Her teeth may be pitiful, but they are strong.

The battle-hungry warg sees the challenge in her eyes and in her step and lunges for her throat.

Mara can't dodge, can't take the risk that the brothers' wounds will slow them enough that they can't get out of the way. She darts forward, driving her shoulder into the beast's throat. His own momentum does most of the work for her and he stumbles back, choking. Her shoulder flares with pain, but she pushes it away as she leaps at her enemy, flame in her heart. She goes for his throat, but human jaws and teeth are not meant for tearing out warg throats, and all she gets is a mouthful of fur. Mara changes tactics, scratching at his eyes, biting his ears, trying to distract him from anything except the pain she causes him. He roars and shakes her off. She lands on her injured shoulder and her vision goes white for a moment. She hears the warg howl his triumph, hears Fili and Kili move. Her vision clears in time to see them kill the great warg.

She's up again, throwing herself between the brothers and the rest of the pack.

"Mine," she hisses, and this time no warg argues. They scatter, melting into the deepening shadows of the forest. The wild feeling inside her melts with them, fading the farther away the pack gets. She yelps in surprise as her legs give out, dropping her on her back in a pile of gore. Her breath leaves her in a _wumph_ and it's all she can do to lie there and let it come back. She can see the brothers, albeit upside down, and she doesn't care that her shirt soaked with the blood and bits of dead wargs, that her hair is beginning to tangle with it. Fili and Kili are alive, she's alive, and for the moment that's all that matters.


End file.
